Resumen de European Parliament and representation of the Union's citizens: What can be expected from electoral law from a democratic standpoint?

Fabio Pascua Mateo

• In some Member States, doctrine and case law of national courts have highlighted that, under cur-rently applicable European electoral law, elections to the EP are of a second-order, whereby Euro-pean issues give way to purely domestic ones. In any event, this does not hinder the position of theEP as a genuine legislative chamber, which, above all, demands effects from electoral law that itcannot provide, since the intensity with which an election is experienced depends on circumstancesexternal to the system itself. What electoral law can guarantee instead is the periodic holding of freeelections. And that requires ensuring that the EP is appointed by the free expression of the opinionof all (and only) European citizens; that the weight of the vote is determined by rational criteria; thatthe electoral formula allows access to significant political currents; and that the“rule of law”isrespected in the electoral process.